Vehicles of various makes and models have become the primary mode of travel throughout the world. Such vehicles may be used for personal, commercial, or military uses. Highways, byways, and other roads are built of differing products such as concrete, asphalt, sand, gravel or the like providing a vital infrastructure for support of a region. Maintenance and upkeep of these roads help ensure the availability of these surfaces for a variety of uses. However, these roads are not always safe for travel for various reasons and in many instances may not even exist. Further, maintenance of roads can be most difficult as weather conditions such as excessive rain, snow, or ice can create challenges for vehicle operators. In many parts of the world, the roads or road shoulders may be unpaved and consist of a sandy base or saturated soil. A particular requirement for military vehicles is the ability to be driven on paved roads, but also on non-paved terrain like sandy dessert-like areas. Should a vehicle lose traction on such surfaces, there is a high risk that a specialty vehicle will be required to extricate the stuck vehicle.
Traction in a general sense relates to the grip of the tire upon the surface over which the vehicle is being driven. Under ordinary driving conditions the torque delivered to the vehicle wheel presses the wheel against the surface long enough to develop sufficient traction required for moving the vehicle at a desired rate of speed. However, under certain conditions the surface of the road may not provide sufficient traction as a result of the low coefficient of friction available.
An additional contributory factor to the lack of traction under weather conditions of snow and ice is the heat given off by the friction of the tires, which melts the snow or ice on the road surface, creating a glazed condition. In contrast, under very loose, extremely wet or sandy soil conditions cause the tires to lose grip, the weight of the vehicle may cause it to sink, resulting it to be mired in place. When vehicles become stuck, it is often necessary to obtain third party assistance in moving the vehicle to a position where traction can be restored. This may require an extended period of time during which the vehicle operator and/or the vehicle itself can be exposed to additional challenges or risks. This can be most problematic in the case with military vehicles, abandoning a military vehicle for even a short time may place the vehicle and personnel in harms way.
Various solutions have been proposed to overcome these problems by providing devices intended to improve traction of the vehicle. Drivers sometimes carry materials in their vehicles which may aid in improving tire traction, such as sand if their vehicle becomes stuck on icy, snowy, or muddy roads. If the vehicle is stuck in mud or sand, yet another technique is necessary. Numerous other devices have been used including clamps, boards, burlap bags, pieces of carpeting, expanded metal and so forth for use in vehicle extraction. Such items may be effective for one condition, but not another. For instance, use of sand to obtain traction on ice would be effective but sand would not be effective on mud.
Traction devices for extricating a vehicle from conditions varying from mud to ice are wide and varied. Many involve placing some sort of flat traction surface beneath the wheel of a vehicle, wherein the stuck vehicle climbs up on the traction surface thereby extricating the vehicle from its predicament. For example, U.S. Publication No. 2012/0273582 includes a board having a first and second end, with one or more sections in between, a rough or grooved top surface, and a plurality of spikes extending from the bottom surface thereof. The mat provides traction to a wheel of a vehicle, whereby the board may be drawn underneath a spinning tire.
Traction mats have been used by vehicles for many years to enable the vehicle to be driven out of a rut, pothole, or the like by gaining additional traction from materials placed into the path of the drive wheel. Other traction mats are attachable to the tire, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,797,549, includes a flexible base having sufficient length to encircle the tread face of a tire, a projecting means extending from one surface adapted to run on a road surface, and a suction means extending from opposite surface adapted by deformation to be brought into operative engagement with and grip the tread face tire, thus releasably securing tread device to the tire. The prior art is replete with mats having indentations in their surface, mats formed of various materials, including sheets of metal with openings or indentation therein, and in some cases, studs fastened to the mat. Such devices of the prior art have proven unsatisfactory for numerous reasons, including being overly expensive to manufacture and sell, unsafe to handle because of sharp edges, snow or mud packing between the protuberances on the mat causing loss of traction, and difficulty in attachment and operation. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,401,775, which discloses a metal shoe about the width of a tire roughly conforming to the radial curvature of the tire, multiple conical sharp or blunt projections on the outer surface of the shoe, a side plate attached to one side of the shoe at one end and a hole at the opposite end, plus a right angled bar attachable to the hole on the side plate on one end and an opposite end which passes through the existing gaps in the wheel rim, a combination of parts to create increased traction for the wheel.
Sandy soil presents a unique problem and one that many military vehicles face in the Middle East. While applying the throttle is the first thing one instinctively does when it appears that the vehicle will get stuck, it is essential not to accelerate in excess as the spinning of the tires may result in the tire being further dig in. Traction devices that exist for situations where the tire is stuck in sand include U.S. Pat. No. 3,630,440 which discloses a friction plate for placement under an automobile wheel comprised of a woven mat with downwardly extending spikes to grip the road surface, and upwardly non-puncturing nail heads for engaging the tire. Additionally, along one end of the mat there will be an integral collar, to be mounted on the wheel lug bolts and secured temporarily thereto. The disadvantage associated with this device is the requirement of having tools necessary to mount the collar onto the wheel lug bolts.
Thus what is lacking in the art is a traction device to provide traction to a vehicle wheel in order to escape soft or frozen terrain by means of temporary securement to the vehicle wheel.